a bunch of serious candidates, obama, clinton, dodd. that's not a fringy group that ran in 2008. 2012, another opportune moment, a vulnerable incumbent. what does that say about the difference between the two parties, that at moments of opportunity, a very sane group of people -- >> wait a second. >> to go back to 2004, though, as a comparable case in which the field was dominated for the first sick months of the race by an arguable outlier, howard dean, who established that position because he was on the furthest element. >> but not by, like, six of them. >> no. in that case -- >> who essentially went through. >> you can't blame the republican party for that. >> i would say barack obama was an outlier when you had hillary clinton. >> but not a nut. >> no, i'm not saying he's a nut, but hillary clinton was the sane, rational pick. was she not? >> the point that i'm trying to make is that the republican party in 2012 lost its a-team because in my view, the brink of 2011, barack obama and his team made it clear that they were going to rai